Kentish Football 
Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley goes into the new season fearing the worse
Wednesday 18th August 2010
FOLKESTONE INVICTA boss Neil Cugley says he is playing down his side’s chances of beating Croydon Athletic on the opening day of the new season, writes Stephen McCartney.
Invicta would have clinched the Ryman League Division One South title last season if it wasn’t for the fact that they were deducted 10 points for their financial troubles - and this allowed the Thornton Heath based outfit to grab the title.
But home play-off wins over Leatherhead and Godalming Town ensured Folkestone Invicta were promoted with the Rams - and the two sides face each other at Cheriton Road in the Ryman Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
“They’re all going to be hard aren’t they,” Cugley told www.kentishfootball.co.uk, when asked about the sides he will face in the higher division.
“Croydon have got a few bob and they’ve been changing their players around. It will be a difficult game but we’ve got to get on with it. We’re in that league now and we have to do the best we can.
“I’m sure the difference is we haven’t changed our team and they’ve made a lot of changes, so we’ll see how it goes.
“They were watching us at Chatham on Monday so they were giving us a lot of respect to see us play at a friendly game.
“I’m expecting them to come down to beat us. We have to make sure we’re right on it and to be fair I was really pleased at Chatham on Monday. We done really well for an hour, we put out or strongest side, so I was pleased with that.”
When asked about the trip to Essex side Aveley next Monday night, Cugley replied, “They’re all going to be tough, we just have to get on with it. I keep saying we haven’t got no plan B - we have to stick with these players if they do well or don’t do well and get on with it. They’ve got to learn and get on with it, that’s the way of our club.”
“We know it’s going to be a difficult season and if we work hard and play like we did for an hour on Monday, we’ll be ok.
“But if you don’t get to a certain standard it’s going to be a long old season for us. We’re not going to change anything around or do anything much different.”
Cugley hopes his side emulate their success of last season, but the Ryman Premier League is a better league than the teams they faced last term.
He said: “A lot will depend on can they do it at this level. It’s up to them. They’ve got to show me. Hopefully they will.
“It’s a big jump for them from what they were doing 18 months ago. A lot of them were in the reserves and it’s a massive jump. A lot of them were in the reserves and now they’re running around in the Ryman Premier League against some very good sides so it will be a great test for them.
“There’s no point saying if they’re good enough or not - we’ll see after the next few games.
“We don’t know how they’re going to do. We can only find out after a few games but as I said earlier we will stick with them.
“I’m not fearing it. I can’t wait for it. I know a lot of the managers in the league. I’ve done that level and I can’t wait to go to the ground I know against the managers I know. Hopefully the players are the same as me and are looking forward to it.
“We’ve got no pressure or no expectations on our lads and hopefully they’re looking forward to it and that they can handle it and hopefully that will be ok.”
Speaking about his team selection problems, Cugley said: “I’ve got a few problems for Saturday. I’ve got Micheal Everitt and Rob Kember both suspended. Josh Burchall is unavailable and James Everitt and Olly Barcham are injured so we’re not going to be at our strongest and we haven’t got the depth of other teams to sit on our bench so it’s a bit awkward but definitely three of them will be available for the Monday.
“But once we’ve got everyone back we haven’t got a bad little squad. We’ve got 16-17 players, who I think are quite able players and quite a few are quite young but hopefully they can prove that they can play at that standard.”
Visit Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk
Folkestone Invicta v Croydon Athletic
Ryman Premier League
Saturday 21st August 2010
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Buzzlines Stadium, Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd